"Gas" to Gas: From Farm Waste to Renewable Energy

A Model for Neighboring Farmers to Replicate

By Michelle Hamner - Project Leader

Installation Complete

Here at EARTH University Foundation, we continue to be amazed at all of the support our project, “Gas” to Gas: From Farm Waste to Renewable Energy, has received. Thank you again for helping us bring unique solutions for farm waste pollution to families in Costa Rica!

As we updated you previously, in March one of our staff members traveled to the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica with a group of five volunteers from California to install two biodigesters and biogas kitchens on local farms.

Our second biodigester installation of the trip was done on Andrés Vargas’s family farm. Vargas’s family earns income from their farm’s artisan cheese production, which is sold at the local market. The goal for the installation of this 8-meter long biodigester is the production of at least 5 hours of bio-gas each day that can be used to cook food and to pasteurize the dairy needed to make the cheese.

In order to keep up with the demand for their cheese, Vargas’s farm has many dairy cattle, which will provide manure aplenty to feed the biodigester! In addition, Vargas plans to open his farm to the community and other nearby neighbors to showcase his new sustainable technology. His hope is that his farm and the EARTH-installed biodigester will become a model by which others in the area can learn and easily replicate.

In the coming weeks, EARTH University staff will revisit both farms in Guanacaste to ensure that all systems are fully operational. EARTH students from our La Flor campus will also provide ongoing assistance to the farmers to maintain their new biodigesters.

About Project Reports

Project Reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you will get an e-mail when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports via e-mail without donating.

WARNING: Javascript is currently disabled or is not available in your browser. GlobalGiving makes extensive use of Javascript and will not function properly with Javascript disabled. Please enable Javascript and refresh this page.